Moroccan Christians Face Legal and Social Barriers to Practicing Faith

In Morocco, a Muslim-majority country, Moroccan Christians have no choice but to live according to Muslim rites. They must necessarily conform to the Koranic obligations concerning marriage, dowry, repudiation, polygamy, inheritance, etc. Similarly, they cannot give their children the names of Christian saints and must receive Islamic education, compulsory in all schools in the kingdom and at all levels. "The worst of all is the rejection and social stigma we are exposed to; many of us have even lost their jobs," confides Saïd, secretly baptized David, to Omnes Mag.

According to a report by the US State Department, Morocco would have around 8,000 Christians (Catholics, Orthodox and Evangelicals), forced to live their faith in secret, at home, in what they call "domestic churches". There are currently two dioceses in the kingdom, led by two Spanish archbishops: Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero, a Salesian, in charge of the archdiocese of Rabat, and Emilio Rocha Grande, a Franciscan, recently consecrated Archbishop of Tangier. Many religious are present in homes, orphanages, women’s promotion centers and other denominational institutes scattered throughout the kingdom. "We are here to show the beauty of Christianity through charity," says a Franciscan serving at the Croix-Blanche in Tangier.

Article 220 of the Moroccan Penal Code provides for prison sentences of six months to three years for anyone who "by violence or threats, has compelled or prevented one or more persons from exercising a religion, or from attending the exercise of this religion, is punished by imprisonment of six months to three years and a fine of 200 to 500 dirhams. The same penalty is imposed on anyone who uses means of seduction with the aim of shaking the faith of a Muslim or converting him to another religion, either by exploiting his weakness or his needs, or by using for these purposes educational, health, asylum or orphanage establishments..."

Yet Rabat has signed several international human rights treaties that oblige it to respect the religious and conscience freedom of its citizens. "Religious freedom and conscience are inseparably linked to human dignity," Pope Francis insisted during his visit to Rabat in 2019, in the presence of King Mohammed VI. "I am the guarantor of the protection of Moroccan Jews and foreign Christians living in Morocco," the Moroccan monarch had responded.

"Muslims in general are very respectful of foreign Christians but, at the same time, very hard on those of us who have abandoned Islam, whom we call traitors," denounces Hicham, a Christian and president of